As I have gone to great pains to teach my readers, repeaters in New Zealand are often too lazy to digest more complex facts and context before drawing their own conclusions based on which way they want a story to read.

Take for example Sally Ridge’s court case against her ratbag ex Adam Parore. Â Everyone who knows anything about New Zealand cricket will tell you Parore is a ratbag. Â He was a cunning ratbag on the field and off it.

The mainstream media made reporting of this case all about Sally Ridge’s quest to take Adam Parore’s business. Â In truth she was only after a share of it. Â And if they had read the judgment further would have seen that Ridge herself had put in assets at the start of the marriage which Parore then restructured bamboozling even the repeaters who chose to simplify the conclusion and tell half the story.

The Herald reckons that “NZ says no to larger school rooms”…or so their headline says:

A nationwide survey has given a strong indication that New Zealanders don’t want larger class sizes.

The street survey conducted by APN newspapers from Whangarei to Dunedin showed most people stood alongside education groups in their opposition to controversial ratio changes announced as part of the Budget.

Oh a nation wide survey…sounds impressive…bit not so fast it says a street survey.

Right…so not a poll, not scientific, just some repeaters going out and asking people in the street….I wonder how many people they asked to come to this momentous declaration thatÂ “NZ says no to larger school rooms”?

Some of the more than 70 people questioned in the national snapshot slammed the measure as “rubbish” and “bloody ridiculous”. Only a handful supported the move.

Seventy! Oh FFS….that is pathetic…they claim it is a poll, it is not. They claim it is a “national snapshot”, it is not.

I am sure David Farrar will be able to point out the statistical errors of conducting such shabby survey and then reporting it in an even shabbier manner.

Despite being acquitted of the crime, Chris Kahui murdered his twin sons, Chris and Cru, in 2006, National MP for Rotorua Todd McClay has said under cover of parliamentary privilege.

Addressing Parliament last week during the second reading of the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) Mr McClay brought up the deaths of the 3-month-olds as one example of the “very many cases of children being abused, harmed” each year.

“We had another high-profile case of the Kahui twins, who were murdered … I believe Chris Kahui killed those children, but … that is for others to consider now.”

She was obviously at a different conference to me, when only two people out of a room of over 400 asked questions. Her contention is wrong but it doesn;t stop from spinning. Of course the difference between the National party and other parties is that delegates are able to feel comfortable

State asset sales are proving to be a bone of contention even within National’s own ranks as its grassroots members question whether crucial assets will be flogged off overseas.

The government has struggled to reassure Kiwis that its plan to sell a 49 per cent stake in the remaining state owned power companies won’t see them end up in foreign ownership.

But it also appears to have done a poor selling job among its own members with Finance Minister Bill English facing questions from party members during a public session of the National Party conference in Wellington today.

Mr English said the government was working on ways to ensure Kiwi investors were at the front of the queue but acknowledged there was no way to stop them selling shares to overseas buyers.

This was shortly before the media up sticks and bolted before lunch.

Of course the difference between the National party and other parties is that delegates are able to feel comfortable, even in a stage managed event such as this conference, to stand upa nd voice a contrarian opinion. That is to be welcomed. PoliticalÂ sycophancyÂ should be avoidedÂ assiduously.